


In a Heartbeat

by nagi_schwarz



Series: The Oppenheimer Effect [9]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: AU, Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 07:11:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6792730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Any, Any, food poisoning."</p><p>Cam is taken down by a bad cupcake. This wouldn't have happened before the crash.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In a Heartbeat

This wouldn’t have happened before the crash. Cam had eaten a lot of dubious things in his time and survived. To be taken out by one undercooked cupcake was a sign of how low he’d really sunk. Sasha and Tina had looked so hopeful, so pleased when they presented him with the giant extra-special birthday cupcake. Cam knew they both came from pretty lousy home situations, that they were pretty much desperate for approval all the time, so he’d smiled and eaten the cupcake and made happy noises and they’d gone away pleased.  
  
At least he’d made it home before the food poisoning kicked in. He didn’t quite make it to the bathroom before he puked, so his humiliation was complete when he heard the door bang open and JD sing out, in his best Homer Simpson impression,  
  
“Honey, I’m home!” And then, “Hey, what’s that smell?”  
  
“What smell?” Evan asked, and Cam heard the thunder of running feet, of Evan yelling, “Man down, man down!”  
  
A hand smoothed over Cam’s back, and then Evan wound an arm around his shoulders, pulled him into a sitting position. Cam had retched so hard he’d fallen out of his chair.  
  
“Hey, let’s get you cleaned up. JD, help me get him to the bathroom. What happened?”  
  
“Bad cupcake,” Cam mumbled. He closed his eyes, couldn’t look at Evan and see the sympathy in his face, couldn’t watch the carefree and easy way JD scampered down the hall toward him. They managed to get him back into his chair to wheel him to the bathroom.  
  
Then Evan said, “I got this, JD. You take care of the hallway.”  
  
“Are you sure? I can -” JD’s voice was high with tension.  
  
“I’ve dealt with this before. It’s fine.” Evan’s voice was calm, soothing. “Now go.”  
  
Evan narrated calmly and clinically as he stripped Cam out of his shirt, which was the dirtiest. He soaked a washcloth in warm water and handed it to Cam so Cam could clean off his own face and chest, and then he handed Cam a glass of water so he could rinse his mouth out. The entire time he spoke gently.  
  
“How bad was the bad cupcake?” Evan asked.  
  
“Completely soggy in the middle. Huge, too. Birthday cupcake. From Sasha and Tina.” Cam opened his eyes, and Evan was busy putting toothpaste on Cam’s toothbrush for him. Somehow he knew exactly how much toothpaste Cam liked.  
  
“Ah,” Evan said knowingly. “You know they have crushes on you, right?”  
  
“Impossible. ‘M old and broken.”  
  
“Not old, not broken,” Evan said firmly. He handed Cam the toothbrush and another glass of water so Cam could brush his teeth.  
  
“This is pointless, you know.” Cam’s stomach was still roiling. “I’m just gonna puke again.”  
  
“I hate the way my mouth feels after I puke,” Evan said. “I threw up right after we found Ritter’s body, and then the Unas came, and they grabbed me, and I didn’t get to brush my teeth for days. They kept trying to feed us dead symbiotes.”  
  
Having a clean mouth did make Cam feel marginally better.  
  
JD appeared in the doorway. “Hallway’s clean.”  
  
Evan tossed him Cam’s bundled-up shirt. “Get this in the laundry room. Bring me Cam’s pajamas.”  
  
“Guys, I’m an adult,” Cam started, and his stomach churned. “Out. Both of you. Now.” He had enough strength in him that he could get himself on the toilet.  
  
They fled.  
  
When Cam’s bowels were empty, he washed his hands and slumped back down on the closed toilet lid. As a courtesy, he flicked the switch for the vent fan. “All right,” he said, because he knew Evan and JD had been hovering outside the bathroom door the entire time, “you can come in now.”  
  
“Here, I brought your favorite pajamas,” Evan said, and after that, things went a bit wobbly and gray.  
  
Cam floated in and out of lucidity. He was aware of being bundled into his own bed, of Evan and JD talking all around him. His head hurt. His whole body ached. His stomach cramped something fierce. There was a basin next to his head, and warm, strong hands that helped him up whenever his body rebelled further. A hand smoothed over his back, his hair.  
  
Someone kissed him on the forehead. “Mama?”  
  
“He’s burning up. I don’t think it’s just food poisoning,” Evan said.  
  
“It could be.” JD sounded uncomfortable. “We don’t know what effects the crash had on him.”  
  
“Go get the Tylenol, all right? I’ll stay with him.”

“Right. BRB.”

“Urgh, do not speak at me in text speak.”

“Just trying to blend in with my generation.”

“Go, JD.”

When Cam finally surfaced, hours later, he was hungry and thirsty and sweaty and generally felt gross. But Evan was tucked into the bed with him, arms around him, and when he stirred, Evan murmured softly and smoothed a hand over his back without even waking.

And it felt...nice.

Cam knew how JD looked at Evan, wasn’t sure if Evan had quite caught on yet. Evan was attractive, no question. And he was so damn nice. And Cam...he’d given up on anything more than the brotherly affection they all shared. His doctors had warned him, he was looking at enforced celibacy while his body tried to heal itself, the stress of PT would take everything out of him. But now, two years later, he was still looking at enforced celibacy, at a lifetime of asexuality, because his body just...didn’t care anymore.

Cam closed his eyes and decided if this was what food poisoning got him, this kind of closeness, he’d eat one of those cupcakes again in a heartbeat.


End file.
